Write without music. This is the challenge that Elena Copsidas gave to seventeen rappers in In the name of Rap, a collection which brings together these poems. Among them, Akhenaton, Jok’air, Remy, Georgio or Kacem Wapalek. Like the poets, they know how to use the language. Words, they master them, explore them, cut them up, sometimes create them.
But writing a text devoid of musicality is not easy for these artists who use music production as the backdrop for their pieces. Well, the budding editor proves the opposite in “this little art object”To put in the hands of lovers of words, whether they are more Baudelaire than Jok’air or more Damso than Hugo.
Franceinfo Culture: How did you come up with the idea for this collection?
Elena Copsidas: Basically, I listen to a lot of rap for text. I am fascinated by artists like Oxmo Puccino or Gaël Faye, rappers who focus a lot on writing. And I love that ! And besides that, I really like literature. So during the summer of 2019, I had a kind of click. I asked myself : “why not create a book of poetry written by rappers?This book was also for me a way of approaching the subject of poetry in rap without turning it into a learned object that intellectualizes this music.
Do you think rap rhymes with poetry?
That was the big question throughout the whole project. And it’s funny that you ask me this question because the project was originally titled Rap is Poetry. And with hindsight, I told myself that I could not say it because it is a subject which is the subject of much debate. I found it more interesting to ask the question rather than to impose it and affirm it. After having read this collection, the reader will be able to position himself on the question.
What is the goal of this work?
I find that there is a divide between the culture which wants to be elitist and the rap which is very popular at the moment. And that’s a shame because there are a lot of things that unite the two. This book was a way of creating a bridge. I really saw this project as a bridge that would allow people to discover what is on the other side. A young person who does not necessarily like to read, who has never really been interested in literature, can discover poetry through artists he already knows. And in the other direction, people who do not know rap at all discover the pen of rappers without all these a priori violence and aggressiveness that we attach to this music. I think of my grandmother who loved the book for example.
How did you choose the rappers?
Basically, I had a very large list of names. Some did not participate in the exercise because they were not interested or simply not available. But there are quite a few who were up for it. Like Akhenaton or Rémy, artists that I admire. For me what was important was to promote the artist’s pen and not his notoriety. This is why there are famous names that mix with rappers a little less known to the general public. And the funny thing is that rap fans are going to know a lot of the names that were involved in the project. While people who do not necessarily listen to a lot will discover new artists.
You talk about exercise …
Indeed because for them, it was another way of writing. Unlike rap, there is no music. To give a starting point for their reflection, I suggested that they choose between four themes: blue, raw, wall and muse. And what is surprising is that everyone had different ideas. I often speak of the example of the word “Blue”. Some spoke of the sea, others of the police or of the night. I found that interesting to see how they played with these four same words.
It was also an exercise for illustrators.
Also. As soon as I received a rapper’s text, either I sent it to all the illustrators who, depending on their inspiration, decided or not to work on the poem or I decided on my side to associate a poem with an illustrator because I felt that there was a certain consistency. It was quite spontaneous. It happened that an illustrator asked to work on a particular poem. This was the case with Sofian Who Knocks, particularly a fan of Lino.
In the name of Rap, available on the book website, from Buondi Studio editions, 19 euros.